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A good game, but has its faults

We bought this game for my 3 1/2 year old daughter, and she has barely stopped playing with it. The game is simplified version of the adult game, with money, houses and counting spaces all involved. The player presses a battery operated car instead of throwing a dice, and a voice tells them how many spaces to move. They must then move the car the correct number of spaces, with the voice counting at each space. This has helped enormously with my daughter's counting ability. However, the car is very sensitive, and will sometimes get the count wrong. Very frustrating!

The player must then use all of the houses that they begin with by building towers at the side of the spaces. They must also pay rent on any other players houses. More counting, and also very basic monetary exchanges (using just £1 notes) are used here, with one player taking the role of banker.

The game is quite long, so requires a fair amount of concentration - perhaps not so good if your child is very young. The guidance on the box is for children 4+ which I would say is about right. I don't think that it would last them long though - once they get past simple maths it could prove quite boring.

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Not worth buying in my opinion

I saw this in Debenhams last December and thought it seemed like a great idea-Monopoly but for young children. My sister had junior Monopoly and I presumed this was a newer version of that so I paid for it and took it home. I believe I paid £10.00 at the time for it as it was on offer. I wrapped it up for my son for Christmas and a couple of days after Christmas we played with it for the first time.

The game comes in a square cardboard box. There is a plastic section in the corner of the box where before buying you could test the monopoly car and here lies my first gripe with the game. After you have played it the first time there is this little hole in the box and the "hotels" fall out when you are carrying the box! Perhaps it is just me but I find it slightly irritating!

Now this monopoly game is not like the monopoly we will all be familiar with. There is a circular track made of four pieces of plastic which you must assemble to make the board. You then have a base to put upon the centre of the track which has the house on. These are not named and are simply coloured with a numerical value on them. There is the car piece which is central to your game. He tells you what to do and where to move. I find when setting the game up that it is quite difficult to attach the car to the track and at times it can come loose off the track. This interferes with game play and is just one of the reasons I don't like this game!

Before you play the game each player should be given one golden roof, ten building blocks and five roofs. You then get six £1 notes.

Once the game is set up you can press Mr Monopoly's head on the car for three seconds and he will give you a run down of the rules. When you are ready to play you press his head again and he will tell you how many spaces to move. Each coloured space on the board has a numerical value. When you land on one of these you can put a building block on it but if it has a number 2 for example it needs two building blocks on it before you can put a roof on it and it belongs to you.

With traditional monopoly if someone lands on your property they pay rent and this is the same in this game. If the property has two blocks you pay £2 rent. If you run out of building blocks during the game you can buy more for £1 each. Each time you pass go you receive £2 so you often have lots of money.

To begin the game the youngest player presses Mr Monopoly's head and follows his instructions. To move along the board you must push the car along the number of spaces he tells you. This part is my major issue with the game as it seems to jump and skip and tell you that you have moved one space when you have moved four and such like. It gets very annoying and spoils the game in my opinion. My son also gets very frustrated with this and we really can't be bothered playing the game. Possibly if you move very slowly you would have more luck but we haven't found this to be the case.

To win the game you need to have used all of your red roofs. When you have done this you can use your golden rood on the next property you have owned. When you have done this you need to press Mr Monopoly's head three times quickly and he will congratulate you on winning.

Now this game says age 4+ but with all the messing around with the little car I would say that four year olds will definitely get fed up with the game. My five year old doesn't want to play with it anymore and it is fine by me as I really do detest the game!

I would say that if you can buy the older version of junior Monopoly it would be a much better game. This is certainly not for us.

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A beginner version of the popular game

As out eldest took an interest in Monopoly after watching his Dad playing in on the computer we did try and explain to him how it works with out Monopoly board but it just really went over his head. For his birthday his Aunt decided she would buy him the junior version which he loves.

The car track needs to be fixed together which does so by a little jigsaw type piece on each end, the fourth piece should not been connected until the car has been fitted onto the runner on the track.

The cardboard playing board is them slotted into place on top of the track.

Each player is given 1 golden roof, 10 green building blocks, 5 of their colour choice in roofs and 6 £1 notes.

PLAYING and AIM OF GAME

The car needs to be pressed at the beginning of the game and on the go position of the track. The car welcomes everyone to the game and then tells you the number of places to move. When you stop if you are on a house square you are allowed to place one of your green brick. If the number by the property says 1 then you can add your roof but if it says 4 then 4 green bricks need to be added before you can place the roof on. You continue around the board taking it in turns and when you have used up all of your roofs your final build is to be by putting the golden roof on to a building. When you have done this you are to quickly press the driver in the car down 3 times and he will congratulate you on winning.

As you move around the board and land on properties if you are not the owner and it is owned by another player then you have to pay rent to them. The value of the rent is the number of green building blocks which the square has. For example if you land on the red 3 square and it is build and owned by a player then you would pay that player £3. Also when you land on the chance square then you may get a fine or receive money. £2 id also given to each player whenever the car passes the go square.

OPINION

My eldest was thrilled when he got this game and was really excited about playing. He found it very easy to set up and had to do so all by himself as he is now seven and thinks he can do everything! He did find it very easy to learn the instruction as we told him he would have to read them and then explain how to play the game to us (a great way of improving reading without them realising!)

We all sat down to play this game and hubby was his usual cocky self saying he would buy all of the property and bankrupt us all like he usually does but what joy when he found he could not do this! The game is definitely a game of luck and not skill like the adult version as you have no real choice over what you can and cannot buy. It really depends on where you land. I like how you can use all of your green blacks but still not own any of the properties as you have no coloured roofs on them or the other way around and not build at all and land on all the properties which need roofs.

The money which changes hands during the game is another good way to encourage counting and maths. The values are only small and the largest value which has to be paid out is £4 as this is the largest property. Our eldest always has to be the banker and in charge of the money and I do think it has helped with his maths skills.

The one downside of the game is that you have to move the arcing car around the board very slowly otherwise it does not register how many spaces you have moved and tells you to go back. The best and simplest way we have found of moving it is buy only moving one space at a time and waiting for him to count them. This does help with out 4 year old as he is really getting good at his counting now thanks to the game.

Another good thing about this game is that as there are no counters to move around the board then there is no arguing over who uses which piece and also there are no dice to loose!

I am definitely going to recommend this game to all as it makes a lovely fun and educational game. No one can cheat in it and it also encourages family time. The game is for ages 4 years and up and for 2-4 players.

As I said at the start of this review it was gift so I am not sure how much it costs. I have also included some photos of the game set up as I have never seen a version like this and only ever seen the normal dice and bard version for children.

Highly recommended by me, my 7 and 4 year olds and also hubby!

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Product Details

Win the race to win the town! Join Mr Monopoly as he makes his way around town. Mr Monopoly does all the talking to guide you around town - if he tells you to move forward two spaces, you know what to do! If you make a mistake - he'll let you know! Building is easy - just add a block when you land on a coloured space. The play money and building blocks make counting fun!